Ultrafast Modulation of Magnetization Dynamics in Ferromagnetic (Ga, Mn)As Thin Films

Abstract

Magnetization precession induced by linearly polarized optical excitation in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As was studied by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. The superposition of thermal and non-thermal effects arising from the laser pulses complicates the analysis of magnetization precession in terms of magnetic anisotropy fields. To obtain insight into these processes, we investigated compressively-strained thin (Ga,Mn)As films using ultrafast optical excitation above the band gap as a function of pulse intensity. Data analyses with the gyromagnetic calculation based on Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation combined with two different magneto-optical effects shows the non-equivalent effects of in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy fields on both the amplitude and the frequency of magnetization precession, thus providing a handle for separating the effects of non-thermal and thermal processes in this context. Our results show that the effect of photo-generated carriers on magnetic anisotropy constitutes a particularly effective mechanism for controlling both the frequency and amplitude of magnetization precession, thus suggesting the possibility of non-thermal manipulation of spin dynamics through pulsed laser excitations.